My Friends are all Strange is written from the point of view of seventeen year old Becca. This story gives the reader a first-hand look inside the mind of someone suffering with mental illness. The readers gain an understanding of how difficult it is for those who struggle with these issues to navigate the stresses of every day life.
I immediately felt a connection to Becca and rooted for her throughout the entire story. I liked the voice and personality of her character. Despite the seriousness of the situation, the writer wove in humor through Becca’s unique personality. She is smart and witty with funny internal dialogue.
After a breakdown at school, Becca is sent to a facility called Brookside to receive the help she needs. Becca learns the triggers of her struggles and strategies for coping. She also develops friendships with “people like her”.
The story was so well written that I felt like I knew Becca and her friends personally. I recommend this story for middle school age on up. Adults of any age would also enjoy it. I give it a strong five stars!
My Friends Are All Strange
Margaret Lesh
Publication date: October 18th 2016
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
My friends are all strange.
Right now I’m living at Brookside, a place for people like me. I’ve met a kitty girl, a brooding beautiful boy, one who can’t be touched, and others. My new friends. Strange people. People like me.
I’ve always been different, but lately, more so. My hands sometimes don’t seem to be attached to the rest of me. I cut up all of my clothes. I’m hot, so hot, all of the time. If I sleep, a wizard haunts every dream. I don’t sleep. Sometimes I want to run, but where do you run to when you’re trying to escape your own mind? I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same. I’m smart. I’m nice, sometimes. I just want to be normal(ish). But, right now, my friends are all strange… Like me.
Dark, funny, snarky, seventeen-year-old Becca struggles to cope with mental illness in My Friends Are All Strange, the gripping contemporary young adult companion novel to Normalish.
Author Bio:
California native Margaret Lesh lives in a narrow canyon populated by herds of wild burro and packs of coyote. The canyon is also populated with her creative, handsome husband, her feisty mother-in-law, her not-brave-at-all Border Collie, Echo, and sometimes her son (who is away at college. And she is not quite sure how that all happened so fast).
She writes books to entertain young and not-so-young readers as well as herself. She believes tacos are magic.
